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Fictioneers Badges (Read 3534 times)
MikeH
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Fictioneers Badges
Nov 28th, 2009, 11:52am
 
To get an early glimpse of the hand-beaded Fictioneers Badges that will be mailed out, for free (hopefully before Christmas) to all Charter and Full Members of The Fictioneers, just go to the club website:

http://www.thefictioneers.com

click on "honors" in the menu, and check it out! A full description is given of this fun item and a short history of its creation.

And trust me...the low-lit photo does not do justice  to this work of  art. To the naked eye, the play of sunlight along the glistening beaded face of the Fictioneers Badge is a wonder to behold.

Praeclarus Intus Scriptum!

Michael         Cool
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ArthurS
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #1 - Nov 28th, 2009, 12:13pm
 
Pretty awesome, Mike. It IS a work of art. Now we just have to arrange to have a convention so that everyone can walk around wearing theirs. Wink
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #2 - Nov 28th, 2009, 7:25pm
 
Mike, they are definitely gorgeous -- a work of art, indeed.
Arthur -- that is a super-cool idea. A con where we could all meet. Or some of us could meet. Hmmm...let's think about that, okay? In the east here, there is the huge DragonCon in Atlanta, the BaltiCon in Baltimore, ConFluence in Pittsburgh (not the greatest con, but a nice small con...) I wonder if there is one that a number of the Anotherealm-Whortleberry-Fictioneers-etc. gang could get to? Wouldn't that be terrific?
  --Jean
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ArthurS
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #3 - Nov 30th, 2009, 1:00pm
 
Given that a number of the fictioneers are published, and that we could do a "Fictioneers Anthology," if we planned it right, we could have a Fictioneers Meeting at a major Con AND promote the anthology with a massive contributing authors signing. We might even offer up some of our member for panel discussions and work out a deal with the convention towards a free meeting room or space on the convention floor to sell copies of our book. Then there could be the Fictioneers Dinner, with guest speakers, and more signings. And those are just the ideas I can come up with. I'm sure you guys could come up with bigger and better ideas, and beer, and cheese balls. (I love cheese balls.)

Am I going to fast? I'm starting to pant.
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MikeH
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #4 - Nov 30th, 2009, 4:03pm
 
Arthur:

I love your vision.

And I'm more than willing to embrace it.

I'm also someone who has found the limits of his own mortality (and pocket book) in the time and hassles it has taken to make SHA'DAA a reality, and to get The Fictioneers to its current state (where I will soon be mailing out the Badges, Cards, and Certificates)...both efforts that from an objective viewpoint have taken a lot longer (years) to manifest than I ever imagined when I conceived them...

With that said, if we can get a core group of Fictioneers to commit to setting something like this up, as well as enough Fictioneers to commit to forking out travel fees, hotel fees, and Convention-Attendee fees to actually attend this event, then it could certainly be worthwhile.

The immediate problems that I see are logistics.

I personally don't want to RUSH any of these proposals. That is the perfect recipe for disaster.

1) Pick a Convention, one far enough into the future so that people can plan towards it and save up money for it (definitely not one that is six months or less away). One that is 10 to 12+ months away has the best chance of success. Time flies REALLY quickly for big events (weddings, birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs, etc.). Pick a Convention that has a centralized geographic location most accessible by the largest number of Fictioneers possible.

2) Pick a Convention that will give us enough time to fully conceive, outline, write, and edit a Fictioneers Anthology, that we can start promoting three months before the convention, BUT, will not go on sale until no more than a week before said convention (note: we'll need hardcopies of said book as part of the 3-month promotional effort).

3) Once the Convention Event has been picked, this will lay out the timeline for when things need to start rolling on the book, how long we'll have to pick a theme, create a outline, give a cut-off date for submissions, give a cut off date for rewrites, finalizing the cover, and locking down a contract with Whortleberry Press that addresses compensation.

4) To reiterate, this will take a dedicated committee, folks working on the Book, folks working on all those elements of the Convention that Arthur mentioned above...a lot more than just the three of us...

I don't know if we can get a free room at a convention...I don't know how those things work. I suppose it is possible to get a big named Guest or two to say a few words at our meeting...if we know they are attending, and we give them enough notice...also, I've discussed an idea recently with our Badge Artisan, who will make special "Honorary Badges" if needed, if we decide to create a Hall of Fame at the website and make well-known authors "Honorary Members," say, one or two a year. Thus, the Fictioneers meeting at the Convention could be used as an excuse to celebrate the first two inductees in The Fictioneers Hall of Fame....

Ideas, ideas, ideas...

Do we have the TIME? Do we have enough PEOPLE to do the research, phone calls, etc.? Do we have the facts needed to convince the Convention to do anything for us at this early date (we cannot quote numbers to the folks running a convention if we do not know EXACTLY how many people are actually going to attend). If we pick some convention a mere 7 months or less away, I have a strong feeling a lot of folks who could afford it are going to say their travel plans are already locked down, or, it is not enough time to save up money etc.

Will setting up these logistics cost money? I'm neither rich nor wealthy, and promoting Sha'Daa and getting the Fictioneers Honors produced is wiping out my account. I do not have funds to make down payments on anything at the moment...and The Fictioneers is, after all, a non profit organization with no War Chest whatsoever.

Well, thats my rant and rave.

I really do think a Fictioneers enclave at a major Convention would be a TON of fun.

What are your thoughts?

Mike

p.s. Anyone know Jeff Lyons and Gary Markette's "current" e-mail addresses?
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Re: Fictioneers Badges and a program track at cons
Reply #5 - Nov 30th, 2009, 7:27pm
 
Dear Mike;
  Your idea of careful planning is an excellent one. Even that does not always...
  Well, here's a story. Many long years ago, when Anotherealm and the world and some of us were young, the idea cropped up to start a Zine Guild. That sounded great, and several bright people and their zines joined in.
   There were so many that we planned to offer an entire track of programming at a con -- the one in Louisville KY. Nine Zine Guilders were planning to take part.
    Came the day of the con. Webbie, Goldy and I showed up...period. OMG, where are the rest of the Zine Guilders. Well, some of them posted that something had come up preventing them from attending. Others just didn't say anything.
    There we were, the three of us, facing an entire track of programming. I was reminded of that famous picture representing the Revolutionary War, you know, the one with the three guys marching along, one with bandaged head, one with arm in sling, but one still beat the drum, one still carried the flag...
     We explained to the con people what had happened. "Oh, that's okay," they graciously said. "Just do what you can."
      People actually showed up for our program track. Each of the three of us stood up and tried to present something. (As Mark Twain put it, 'Let us draw the merciful curtain of oblivion over the ensuing scene.')
       When we finished, I pointed to the table containing our Anotherealm books and Ghod only knows what else, and mumbled something, and sat down.
        Webbie stood up and addressed the group, saying "What Jean is trying to say, is, go over there and buy our stuff."
         They did.
          Webbie, do you have anything to add to this memoir? You may well remember it better than I. If it was not the worst day in my life, it was certainly in the top five.
         They don't have a con any more in Louisville KY. I _hope_ that was not because of us.
        -- Jean
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #6 - Dec 1st, 2009, 1:58am
 
Mike,

I agree with everything you said. I was being silly for the sake of making it sound exciting (which I think it is). We absolutely would need to create a steering comittee to see if such a thing as a Fictioneers Meeting is wanted, let alone possible. And I do agree that we have nothing unless we can be relatively certain that we have a minimum participation.

I can understand people's hesitation (Jean, what a story, Some online gamer spam). And I don't want to force anything. If you are interested in discussing the possibilities I'd be happy to take this conversation off line and actually discuss it. Maybe it's just silliness. Maybe it's an excuse to get a bunch of people togther to enjoy a Con as a group and pretend like we've got business to conduct. Maybe it CAN be business to conduct. The scope of this thing needs to be worked out -- if anybody is really interested in doing it. Which isn't even known yet.
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MikeH
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #7 - Dec 1st, 2009, 8:03am
 
Jean and Arthur:

I hope my rant and rave did not come off as a downer. I am honestly not trying to squash what I think would make for an excellent opportunity for us all.

I'm up for being part of any and all committees formed [for a Fictioneers Meeting at a Major Convention where we would promote sales of the Fictioneers Anthology, and even announce the First Two Inductees into a Fictioneers Hall of Fame] and doing my share of the work.

I just don't want our imaginations to get bigger than our common sense, and rush into something way too quickly, and end up with something worse than the unfortunate situation that Jean and her friends had through no fault of their own.

This is something I saw happen on a massive scale in the late 1980's, when I was an employee at Syracuse University and a friend of a friend asked me to put together a film program for a major sci-fi convention he was putting together to be held in Syracuse, NY...this guy was a nice guy, but had absolutely no idea how complex and difficult it was to create and run a Convention.

He sold tons of table space to vendors, he used that money as a non-refundable down payment to get DeForest Kelly to be a guest of honor, he put money down on a convention space, he convinced folks like me to design whole programs, and then when the early ticket sales fizzled out, and the fact that he had started his whole ill-conceived project without any kind of War Chest whatsoever had finally sunk into his head, mere months before the event was to occur he went to pieces.

He refunded everyone's money that he could and then went into hiding, way too ashamed to face the music. I didn't hate the guy (he was a timid and polite little character), but he basically started this whole project, from scratch, just under a year from the start date of the proposed convention. Events like that need at least two full years of "lead time" to pull off.

What we want to do could probably be done successfully with just a year's lead time...but you get my point.

And this is why, as much as the urge is there to just "pin down" a time and date and place quickly, and in the not too distant future, we have to be VERY careful, and not shoot ourselves into the foot.

Heck, I didn't even know you called such planning comittees "Steering Committees," which shows just how incompetent I am in terms of all this stuff...but, intelligent, experienced folks like you and a lot of the other Fictioneers give me hope that something like this could be pulled off.

The secret is having a core group of at least 12 folks who will, at the very least, help plan it, and actually attend the event. That, for me, would make it a success. Anything and everything above and beyond that would be pure frosting.

Michael
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ArthurS
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #8 - Dec 1st, 2009, 11:29am
 
Mike,

I hear ya. And I'm all about the planning. I know success isn't an accident -- it's the result of knowing what you've gotten yourself into and having a plan to get out of it. Shelf the whole idea of a meeting. Focus on launching the Fictioneers Club. You're still trying to get out the Membership cards. Let's not get more complicated than that right now. Once you've launched the club, I'd be happy to help you build a community, get people involved and motivated -- start a Writer's Group, etc. Once we have a core of people who are having fun, then we talk anthology and meeting. I think the two go hand in hand since they would naturally support one another. That probably puts the whole experiment out 2 or 3 years but who knows where we'll all be come that point. We might be able to count ourselves as worthy of guest speaker status. And the worse thing that happens is a bunch of us get together to hang out and argue if Cpt. Kirk would kick Cpt. Picard's butt. Or if "V" is just a rip off of Clarke's "Childhood's End." Or if "Ender's Game" is pure genius or pure crud. Or if anyone's noticed that World of Warcraft is just D&D on computers. Or if Luke Skywalker knew Lea was his sister when she kissed him. Cause, dude, she's his sister. Weird.
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #9 - Dec 1st, 2009, 2:44pm
 
Mike and Arthur -- your plans sound great. Keep me in the loop, please. Whatever Goldy and I can do, we will do.
   -- Jean
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MikeH
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #10 - Dec 1st, 2009, 4:55pm
 
Arthur and Jean:

Well, if everything goes to plan (which no doubt reflects a bit of unrealistic hubris on my part), I should have the FICTIONEERS Badges, Cards, and Certificates mailed out to all Charter Members by late December, and to all Full Members by mid to late January.

I suppose right after that we can try to "take the temperature," as it were, of the group as a whole, and if the enthusiasm is high, or growing, get right into that community-building you speak of, Arthur...not to mention considering putting together a Fictioneers Anthology with Whortleberry Press...ideas, ideas, ideas....it's good to have a dream to work towards....

And I can't wait to send you two guys your badges!

Michael
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ArthurS
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #11 - Dec 2nd, 2009, 1:59am
 
Mike, looking forward to it. Badges and planning.

Jean, of course we'll keep you and Goldy in the loop. Gotta pull in the "usual suspects."
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #12 - Dec 7th, 2009, 8:07am
 
Mike,

I don't know Jeff Lyon's e-mail off the top of my head (I'm behind a firewall at work so I can't check), but he's on Facebook.  You're both "friends" of mine, so you can click on my "friends list" and then click on his name.

:D  Jamie
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Re: Fictioneers Badges
Reply #13 - Dec 21st, 2009, 3:08pm
 
I'll e-mail you my e-mail address.

Readercon in Burlington, Mass happens in July.  It is entirely devoted to reading and fiction rather than a media con.  125+ well established authors, publishers, and book vendors attend regularly.
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